


Bread and Thorns

by annewithanl



Category: Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: 90s AU, Aged Up, F/M, Gilbert Blythe has Heart Eyes, Girl Band, Modern AU, Riot Grrrl, Stubborn Anne Shirley, also its set in england, also ruby and jane and tillie and josie if you squint, anne's in a band, avonlea's a New Town, bash and mary if you squint, basically its not long enough to have most of the characters, but idk how much, sorry theres not much plot, uhhh Charlie's a sexist idiot but what else is new
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:41:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25355686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annewithanl/pseuds/annewithanl
Summary: A skinny redhead stood beside Jane, also holding a guitar, and wearing a black prairie dress, sleeves ripped to reveal a fishnet undershirt. His first thought was that she must be a siren. (This conclusion never was proven wrong.) From his position at the edge of the stage Gilbert couldn’t really make out her facial features, but she seemed to captivate him anyway, her small frame having more stage presence than any of the frontmen of the bands he had seen (and she wasn’t even the front [wo]man!). Her hair was what really stood out. Gilbert had never thought much of red hair. If asked, he would probably say his favourite type was blonde (like his ex, Winnifred, who he had said goodbye to when leaving London), and he had laughed at his fair share of gingers-have-no-souls jokes in his time. He certainly didn’t have anything against gingers, he had just never really noticed them. But this head of ember-coloured hair stole a heartbeat, one which he would miss for the rest of his life. Because Gilbert would never forget this night, nor the way in which it seemed to divide his life: Before, and After.orAnne's in a riot grrrrl band and it's love at first site for Gilbert
Relationships: Gilbert Blythe & Charles "Charlie" Sloane, Gilbert Blythe & Moody Spurgeon MacPherson, Gilbert Blythe/Anne Shirley, Jane Andrews/Josie Pye, Jerry Baynard & Anne Shirley, Jerry Baynard & Gilbert Blythe
Comments: 4
Kudos: 38





	Bread and Thorns

**Author's Note:**

> yes I know I have another wip (which you should check out if u haven't lol) but this came to me instead so.....  
> dw I do have more of that written and it will be out soon

“Oh I missed this!”

“Me too… I can’t imagine why you’d ever want to leave Avonlea.”

“Mmmm…” Gilbert Blythe sighed contemplatively, before taking a swig of the pint in front of him. He was sat on a park bench with Moody Spurgeon and Charlie Sloane, his oldest friends, in his home town. It was his first proper night out since he had arrived home a week before, having been away for the better part of the year. Officially, the reason for his leaving had been to earn “some real money” so he could “actually” support himself. But the truth was that Gilbert had been running, running from the change which had been thrust upon him when his father had died. During his time away he managed to wrangle a few odd jobs here and there, but it was ultimately not enough to warrant staying away from the house that he still technically owned back home in Avonlea. So he made his way back, bringing his newfound family (Sebastian “Bash” Lacroix, and his girlfriend Mary Hanford) with him (how else could he excuse himself for having such a massive house all to himself?).

“So,” Gilbert turned to face his fellow brunet friends, “what are we doing this weekend boys?”

Moody looked excited and, knowing what was coming, Charlie rolled his eyes and allowed a small scowl to form on his face.

“We-ell...” Moody began, “Ruby and the others have started a band, and they’re opening for some shitty dad rock band at the leisure centre tomorrow night. I told her I’d go along, and I bet they’d all love to see you.”

“I didn’t know Ruby was into...music. What kind of band is it?”

“It’s _riot girl_ ,” Charlie interrupted, making speech marks with his hands, a look of disgust clouding his face.

“Oh cool! I take it you won’t be coming then Sloane?” Gilbert grinned.

“He _will_ be coming, but only because he thinks Anne’s fit.” Moody said, matter-of-factly. Charlie scoffed, but didn’t offer a response. Gilbert was well acquainted with Charlie’s borderline-creep-ishness, so didn’t feel the need to comment on this either.

“Who’s Anne?”

“Oh I forgot you don’t know Anne! She moved her a couple of months ago, she’s Jerry’s cousin. And she’s in the band. It was sort of her and Diana’s idea.”

“She plays the bass!” Charlie blurted, earning him a knowing smile from Moody, which he tried to ignore.

“Cool. Well, sure, that sounds fun.”

The next evening found Gilbert, Moody and Charlie, alongside Jerry Baynard and a guy named Paul, who Gilbert only really knew as One Of The Pauls, traipsing towards the leisure centre. Charlie and Jerry were arguing, probably about Charlie’s sexist tendencies, but Gilbert couldn’t pay attention. That afternoon, Bash and Mary had revealed that the latter was pregnant. Gilbert was ecstatic for them, as he knew that they had wanted a kid (although weren’t quite expecting one to come so soon), but couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sadness. Despite not having known for very long, Bash had become a sort of brother for him, but it was moments like this which only showed that they were further apart in age than it seemed. Bash was starting a real family, while Gilbert couldn’t even get a proper job (neither could Bash, but that had more to do with him being a black man in a New Town than his maturity level). Would Bash and Mary get tired of Gilbert’s youthfulness? What if they gave him an ultimatum: grow up or get out? No, Gilbert was being irrational. Bash and Mary loved him, and were good people. They didn’t care! Besides, it wasn’t like Gilbert wasn’t smart and hardworking. It was just difficult for him to present himself well as he was still suffering from the loss of his father.

They arrived at the hall with about fifteen minutes to spare before _Bread and Thorns,_ as Gilbert had been told they were called, were meant to start playing. Charlie and Paul went to get the first round of drinks, while Moody was looking for his girlfriend, Ruby

“So Gilbert, how are you, anyway?” Jerry and Gilbert had been somewhat close, when they were younger, but had drifted apart when Gilbert stayed on for sixth form and Jerry chose to work in his grandfather, Matthew’s hardware store.

“Yeah I’m good. It’s weird to be back. What about you, I hear you’ve got a new sister!” Gilbert teased, already aware of Jerry’s love-hate relationship with his cousin.

“Oh I’m SO glad she’s not my sister. But it is nice to have another young person in the house. Matthew and Marilla are always ganging up on me, talking about “in my day”, so it’s nice to have someone on my side, at least some of the time.”

“Oh I bet. Were you and her close before she moved here?”

“Nah, I only met her once when I was really little. She was put into care not long after that, and we kind of lost track of her, but she managed to track down Matthew and Marilla herself, and she needed a place to stay so...”

Gilbert nodded, taking a beer from Charlie, who had just returned with Paul and Moody. The latter informed the group that the girls were about to go on stage, as the lights dimmed.

A few shouts from the front (Gilbert recognised Jane Andrews in particular), and Moody’s self-conscious whistle, were the only support from the crowd, as the rest seemed almost offended by the presence of a girl only group, having come strictly to see the “headlining” dad rock band.

Under the dim sports hall lighting Gilbert could make out his old friends (Diana Barry on keyboard, Tillie Boulter on bass, Ruby Gillis on drums, and Josie Pye on guitar), but it was the face he didn’t recognise that stood out.

A skinny redhead stood beside Jane, also holding a guitar, and wearing a black prairie dress, sleeves ripped to reveal a fishnet undershirt. His first thought was that she _must_ be a siren. (This conclusion never was proven wrong.) From his position at the edge of the stage Gilbert couldn’t really make out her facial features, but she seemed to captivate him anyway, her small frame having more stage presence than any of the frontmen of the bands he had seen (and she wasn’t even the front [wo]man!). Her hair was what really stood out. Gilbert had never thought much of red hair. If asked, he would probably say his favourite type was blonde (like his ex, Winnifred, who he had said goodbye to when leaving London), and he had laughed at his fair share of gingers-have-no-souls jokes in his time. He certainly didn’t have anything _against_ gingers, he had just never really noticed them. But this head of ember-coloured hair stole a heartbeat, one which he would miss for the rest of his life. Because Gilbert would never forget this night, nor the way in which it seemed to divide his life: Before, and After.

“Hello Avonlea!” Josie, clad in a black minidress and a white leather jacket, her platinum hair tied in two small bunches at the top of her head, shouted. A few titters from the back didn’t seem to faze her, as she had eyes only for a group of girls front and centre of the crowd, including her girlfriend Jane, who was jumping up and down and cheering loud enough to make up for all the jeers. Then Anne stepped forward.

“We are _Bread and Thorns_!” Her voice rang out and seemed to echo off all four walls of the hall, before she turned to Ruby, dressed in a pink peter pan collar dress and Mary Janes, who clicked her sticks, and the band began playing what Gilbert soon realised was a (much faster and louder) cover of “Eleanor Rigby”, by The Beatles.

Gilbert was impressed. He enjoyed artists like Bratmobile and Sleater-Kinney well enough, but hadn’t expected much from his friends seeing as they hadn’t been playing for long, and he hadn’t thought they were very serious. However, he found himself having a great time dancing to their (impressively devised) cover, as well as the two original songs they played afterwards. He joined Moody and the girls up front in chanting for an encore, but Anne informed them that they really had to go, but promised, a sly grin on her face that they would “love the next act!”

As the next band assembled onstage, Moody led the boys outside, where they met _Bread and Thorns,_ plus their number 1 fan Jane Andrews.

“You guys were amazing!” Moody pulled his girlfriend into his arms, an encouraging smile filling his face. The others nodded enthusiastically, Jane launching into a detailed description of how “awesome” they all looked and sounded.

“Gilbert! Rubs said you were back! How are you?” Diana, in a blue Disney princess dress which Gilbert remembered from a birthday party many years ago, chatted with they boy for a few moments, before excusing herself and talking to Tillie, who wore a home-made _Bikini Kill_ shirt and a red mini-skirt, about their potential next gig.

That left Gilbert with nothing to distract him from the redhead who intrigued him so much, and he found himself just openly looking at her, barely ashamed of how strange it must have seemed.

“What?” She asked, her voice rough from the night’s singing/shouting.

“Oh n-nothing. Sorry,” Gilbert paused for a moment, watching his breath in the cool February air, “I’m Gilbert by the way.”

“Anne.” She looked almost worried, but Gilbert couldn’t place where this expression was coming from. They were interrupted by Charlie Sloane, who told Anne that she had been great on stage, and steered her away from Gilbert (subconsciously, of course).

Anne did not like Charlie Sloane. Actually, he hadn’t seemed to bad when they first met – he was friendly enough, and funny when he wanted to be. But he seemed to have developed an infatuation for her, which persisted even after she repeatedly rejected his advances. Anne hated herself for not being more assertive in her rejection (he had no right to keep harassing her!), but despite her complete belief in feminism, sometimes her desire to be liked overcame her desire to scream at the boy next to her.

However, she decided enough was enough, when she felt his hand snake its way onto the small of her back, pushing her forward as if she wasn’t able to walk by herself. She was just about to turn and let her know exactly where he should shove his hand, when a voice came from just behind her.

“Hey Charlie,” she turned to see Gilbert Blythe, who she didn’t know much about other than that he had just come back from London after being away for ages. Charlie did the same, removing his hand from her waste has he did so. “Um… so remind me what you’re doing for work these days.” It was clear he had just been trying to “save” her from Charlie and he not-so-subtly winked at her as if to say “You’re welcome,” only to be met with a scowl.

When, later in the evening at Jane, Josie and Tillie’s house, Gilbert actually _said_ “You’re welcome”, Anne informed him that she didn’t need saving.

“I’m not a damsel in distress!”

“Yeah, of course. I was just trying to help.”

“Well don’t. I’ve been dealing with _Charlie Sloane,_ for months now, I clearly don’t need your help.”

“Yeah and how’s that going for you? Oh yeah, he’s still bothering you.”

Anne rolled her eyes and walked away, stepping out into the back garden through the kitchen.

“I’m sorry,” Gilbert said, following her, unable to leave “I wasn’t trying to be a dick.”

“Yeah it just comes naturally doesn’t it.”

Gilbert sighed. Anne sat down on a low wall which enclosed a mini pond. Gilbert liked this garden. He and Jane were “cousins”, so he had been to the house many times over the years, and was glad that she and the others had managed to save it from being given away to a stranger when her parents moved to a bigger one in the countryside. He had fond memories of Easter parties over the years in this garden, and it was strange to be back.

“So,” he began, after several minutes of semi-comfortable silence, “how do you like Avonlea so far?”

“I really like it, actually. I mean, it’s a bit oppressive to be in such a small town, where everyone’s always judging you, but I like being close to nature. I’ve lived in loads of different places over the years, but it was mostly in big cities, where the most natural thing is a crowded park, or the zoo.”

“Yeah I know what you mean. I’ve been in London for the past year, and I liked the hustle and bustle, the way it all seemed real and big, and no one knew you. But I missed being able to breathe.”

“Exactly!” Anne’s eyes sparkled, and Gilbert listened with complete attention as she launched into a description of the “divine” spot she had discovered past the swimming pool. Gilbert didn’t think he’d ever been there, and told her she’d have to show him. She gave him an odd look at that, but nodded, not meeting his eyes.

“Oh I forgot to say: you guys were amazing!” Anne felt her face begin to match her hair, and was glad the garden lights weren’t bright enough to illuminate her.

“Thanks,” she breathed.

“No, I’m serious. I mean, I like some riot girl stuff, but I wasn’t really expecting you lot to be very good.”

“Oh yeah, and why is that?”She challenged, raising her eyebrows. His eyebrows did the same.

“No, no! I just mean that aside from Diana, and Josie to some extent, I’ve never really known the others to be that interested in playing music, and you haven’t been playing together that long.” This seemed to satisfy Anne, and she relaxed both her eyebrows and her shoulders.

“Yeah well… I guess when you enjoy doing something, you’re willing to put the effort in. It would’ve been cool if Jane was in the band too, but she’s always busy with work so she’s taken on the role of “Band Manager” instead, and she’s really taken it in her stride so… well, we definitely put in a lot of work, that’s for sure.”

Gilbert chuckled, aware that while Jane was usually “too cool” to care about things, when she did, she was very passionate.

“Oh! I love this song!” Anne cried out, as the opening synth of the Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me” wafted out into the garden.

“What? This is a _terrible_ song!” Gilbert scoffed.

“Nuh-uh,” she stuck her tongue out, “it’s a masterpiece!” Gilbert laughed and pulled her back inside by the sleeve.

“Aright then, wanna dance, carrots?” A flirting smile danced across his lips, but was not mirrored on her own. His face fell as he saw the scowl which quickly occupied her face.

“What did you just say?” She shouted over the music. Not waiting for an answer (one that wouldn’t come, because Gilbert in shock), Anne picked up a glass which sat on the kitchen counter and flung it’s contents over him, before swinging around and into the hallway.

“Jerry, I’m leaving.”

“Why, what’s wrong?” Anne just muttered something about “men”, so Jerry informed her that “Matthew and Marilla aren’t home, and I’m not trusting you with my keys, so if you give me a minute to get my coat and stuff I’ll come with you.”

As they turned the corner, Jerry asked again what happened.

“Gilbert Blythe is insufferable and argumentative.” This caused Jerry to descend into a fit of laughter, but at her unimpressed expression he tried to compose himself.

“He’s not so bad! I’m sure he wasn’t trying to be _insufferable._ What did he do?”

“He called me...carrots,” Anne said through gritted teeth. Jerry began to laugh again, and even the thump on the arm that Anne gave him couldn’t stop it.

“I’m sorry...I’m sorry,” he spluttered through gleeful sobs. “You have to admit it’s kind of funny.” Anne made a non-committal noise, and they continued on home in silence, until Jerry broke it saying “I’m sure he didn’t mean to offend you. Gilbert’s a nice guy, really. Very….respectful. I know you like that,” he smirked. Anne rolled her eyes once again.

“He didn’t seem to be very ‘respectful’” she made quote marks with her fingers, “to _me_!”

The next morning Gilbert found himself outside of a door which was familiar, though he hadn’t seen it in a while.

“Gilbert!” Marilla Cuthbert threw open the door, pulling her visitor into a hug, “I heard you were back in Avonlea! How are you? Come in, come in!”

“Oh no that’s okay, Ms Cuthbert. Is Anne in? I just need to.. I have to apologise to her.” Gilbert rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.

“Ah, okay then. I’ll just go get her. And call me Marilla, I’ve known you since you were in nappies!” Marilla said, as she turned away to go get her granddaughter, missing the red flush that crept across Gilbert’s face.

Although she was a notoriously stern woman, Ms Cuthbert had a soft spot for Gilbert Blythe, who she believed to be very polite and generally well brought up. She had felt the loss of his father very deeply, having been engaged to him once upon a time, and hated to think of what he had gone through, all alone, these past months. She resolved to invite him round for dinner as she stepped up her staircase.

“Anne!” She called, pushing open the door to the redhead in question’s bedroom. “Anne, dear, there’s someone here to see you.”

“Who is it?” She grumbled, barely looking up from stack of records she was pouring through, no doubt looking for _Bread and Thorn_ ’s next cover.

“I think you better go see for yourself.”

Anne gave her grandmother a quizzical look, before jumping up and bounding down the stairs, ignoring Marilla’s scolds (“I told you to slow down on those stairs, you’ll fall to your death!”).

Anne pulled the door open further, to reveal a man in black jeans and a grey jacket facing away from her.

“Oh,” she said, as he turned towards her, the disgust evident in her tone.

“Hi,” Gilbert ran his hand over the back of his neck again. Anne wore shorts cut from blue jeans and a faded check shirt. It paralysed him, the way she seemed to make, what he believed to be, a very normal outfit, into something that should be worshiped. Maybe it was _her_ who should be worshiped. Maybe Gilbert should stop thinking weird thoughts.

“What do you want?” Anne’s face was a picture of boredom, which served to remind Gilbert that he was here for a purpose, and it wasn’t just to think about how pretty she was.

“I- I just want to apologise. I wasn’t _trying_ to offend you, I was just...” The truth was, Gilbert didn’t know what he had been trying to do. He’d spent most of the night thinking over their conversation, how they kept breaking out into arguments, how she’d made him laugh, how he wanted to keep hearing her talk, how he’d stupidly ruined it by calling her carrots, of all things. What had come over him, that made him say that? It wasn’t even funny! “Look, I had a really nice time last night, and, I don’t know, maybe I was just drunk, but I wanted to keep talking to you and I didn’t know how, so I just… And yeah, I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have said what I said.”

Maybe it was his endearing honesty (and the way the tips of his ears had burned read during his little speech), but something stopped Anne from turning around and slamming the door, as she had been planning to do. Instead, and she was _very_ proud of herself for this, as she later told Marilla, Anne nodded, and held out her hand.

“Truce?”

Gilbert looked down into her blue eyes, searching for some sign that she was about to pull a drink out of nowhere and pour it all over him. He took her hand and shook it.

“Truce.”

And that was how, a year and a half and many more arguments later, Gilbert Blythe found himself between Moody Spurgeon and Jane Andrews at the front of a much larger crowd, which now consisted mostly of young women, rather than old men, as they watched their girlfriends, singing along to their now large repertoire of original songs, plus a cover of Eleanor Rigby for old times sake.

**Author's Note:**

> uhhh yeah that's it :) sorry it was short and a bit rushed but I've read so many gilbert's-in-a-band fics (which I loved) but I felt we need one for anne too.  
> I couldn't think of a band name and this is the first one I came up with so hope it's not too bad lol  
> okay so here are the explanations for the girls' outfits because why not??  
> \--I came up with Anne's last because I couldn't think of what to do- I thought a prairie dress fits her personality but also works for the fic?? idk  
> \--josie's outfit is based off of envy adams from scott pilgrim vs the world (loml) because I think she would kill that look. its not exactly accurate but whatever this is my fic I can do what I want :))  
> \--Ruby's look is based off of the "kinderwhore" style because again I thought that best fits her personality  
> \--idk what to say about diana's outfit but it made sense in my head  
> \--same for Tillie's, it's a bit basic but I think it would look good on her
> 
> sorry if the characters seem a bit ooc I didn't really check through this at all...also I hope everything made sense, lmk if it doesnt and also just let me know what u thought, I love to hear people's opinions (constructive criticism included!)
> 
> also I just want to say that ik the ending seems rushed but I think you can imagine what happens in that year and a half because its the same in every universe (lots of arguments, lots of miscommunication, lots of mutual pining etc etc), so I decided to just round it off like this - think of the last paragraph as an epilogue?
> 
> check out my other works, and you can find me on twitter @annewithanl :))


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